


Every Battle Heads Towards Surrender On Both Sides

by plaguehaver



Series: Whumptober 2019 [3]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, Gun Violence, Guns, Whumptober, Whumptober Day 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-28 13:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20967638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plaguehaver/pseuds/plaguehaver
Summary: Alana Maxwell's first mission with SI-5.





	Every Battle Heads Towards Surrender On Both Sides

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober Day 5! Prompt: Gunpoint  
The biggest thing these prompts have been teaching me is that I don't know how to write angst, whoops.  
Title is from [The Mountain Goats' "Sax Rohmer #1"](https://genius.com/The-mountain-goats-sax-rohmer-1-lyrics).

Alana Maxwell was the most amazing person that Daniel Jacobi had ever met. She had a passion in her that was unwavering, a drive that seemed endless, and was smarter than literally anyone else he knew. God was lucky she had dedicated her life towards developing AI from a young age, or else his position might be in jeopardy. Well, actually, it still might be.

When he first met her, she had been quiet. She had hair dyed firetruck red, but her posture suggested that the only thing she wanted was to blend in enough that she could do her work in peace. Kepler had introduced them rather hastily, surely wanting them to bridge that gap on their own. Sink or swim had always been his way of life and when the tides rose, Alana swam.

The two of them hardly spoke until their first mission, a rather tame one that sent them to the middle of fuck-ass nowhere, Wyoming. They drove out in a little unmarked black car through a barely-hanging on town and out to a deserted field surrounding a single house. The place was in shambles. It looked more like somewhere the local meth heads might go to shoot up than somewhere that would be of any importance to SI-5, but no matter how many questions Daniel asked, Kepler stayed silent and kept driving.

They pulled to a stop about a hundred yards out from the front porch, dust blowing past them in huge clouds. The house looked even worse from up close, slouching over like it was tired and twitching in the wind like it was one small sneeze away from collapsing in on itself. Weeds sprouted up from the floorboards of the porch and the cracked screen door swung wildly.

”And you’re _sure_ that this is where the guy lives.”

Kepler sighed. “For the last time, Mr. Jacobi. I am _positive_ that this is the right place. Thomas Sacco, fifty-six years old and a certified genius in the field of robotics. _Former_ employee of Goddard Futuristics.” Ah, so it was like that, was it.

”Why in the world is this an SI-5 operation? Any hillbilly teenager with a shotgun could take a guy out in a place like this.”

”Unfortunately, the inside of the house isn’t likely to be as unassuming as the outside. On his way out, Sacco managed to steal an AI unit named ATÉ programmed to be a security program, and his recent financial transactions show that he’s been stocking up on firearms and ammunition, not to mention he’s an incredibly skilled engineer. I don’t doubt that he’d make protecting himself his top priority after leaving Goddard.”

”And I suppose I’m here to deal with the AI?” Alana asked from the backseat, startling Daniel a bit. That was the first full sentence she had said since they left the motel, and he had forgotten she was there. Kepler nodded.

”It certainly wasn’t their most advanced unit, but I have special orders from Miranda Pryce to bring it back intact, so we need it neutralized before it can take any defensive measures against us. From there, all that’s left is to terminate Sacco.” Alana pulled a small tablet out of her bag, opening up a program and starting to type furiously.

”No man smart enough to work for Goddard would be dumb enough to put the AI’s central processors outside of the house he was trying to protect, so I’m going to need to get in there before I can shut her off.” Daniel turned around in his seat to grin at her excitedly. 

”Luckily for you, breaking and entering is our specialty.” The three of them made their way up to the house, guns in hand as they eyed the tall weeds suspiciously for any concealed traps. The rickety wooden porch in front of them looked like a disaster waiting to happen, and Kepler eyed it suspiciously before taking a tentative step up onto it. Right on cue, the sound of a whirring mechanism beneath the floorboards could be heard, and in a fraction of a second, the mail slot of the door popped open to reveal the barrel of a gun that shot off ten rounds in quick succession, the three of them only barely being able to avoid getting hit in the kidneys.

”Good lord,” Alana said, trying to catch her breath. “You really weren’t kidding, were you?” From inside the house came the muffled sound of a computerized voice.

”_Security protocols engaged._”

”Well,” Daniel said, adjusting his grip on his gun. “Looks like it’s go time.”

Without ceremony, Kepler kicked in the flimsy wooden door, knocking over the gun’s mechanism in the process. Making their way inside, every square inch of the place seemed to be booby trapped, though the pattern became easy to see after a few rounds of narrowly-avoided bullets had been sprayed out at them. It was all on the floor, trip wires or concave floorboards that connected to holes in the wall that were actually pretty conspicuous. It didn’t take them long to dismantle most of them and Alana found the AI’s central processor inside the shell of an old refrigerator. Daniel and Kepler left her to her work, cautiously scaling the house’s suspiciously trap-free rickety stairs in search of Sacco.

”So, sir, what do you think of her?” Jacobi asked once they were sure she was out of earshot.

”She seems very promising, but this is her first mission and we’re not even through the day yet. Take care not to get too attached, Mr. Jacobi.” Jacobi scoffed.

”Me? Attached? Oh, perish the thought.” They cleared the second floor, with no sign of Sacco or any life at all, aside from a considerable number of spiders, when the sound of rapid gunshots came from below them. Kepler looked down the stairs, calculating, while Daniel darted down, unable to think of anything aside from the image of their new teammate lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The scene he was greeted with when he reached the floor wasn’t as gory, but it certainly wasn’t much better.

Alana had been yanked away from the fridge processor by a man with balding grey hair. He was tall and slightly pudgy, and he had one meaty arm around Alana’s skinny neck, the barrel of the handgun pressed to the side of her head.

”SI-5,” Thomas Sacco said, spitting the words out like they made a foul taste in his mouth. “Took you long enough to find me.” Daniel pointed his gun at the man who just tightened his grip on Alana in response.

”Nah, just fashionably late. We just we’d let you have a little fun with your rebellion before we came to crash the party,” he shot back. The man smiled sickeningly.

”I recognize you, little attack dog, though it’s unusual to see you without your handler.”

”Guess he decided you weren’t worth his effort.”

”Mr. Cutter still sent you all the way out here for little old me, though. Really, it’s an honor.”

”Actually, from what I can tell, Cutter doesn’t give two shits about what you’re doing. Said you were a pretty low-level threat.”

”You all must not be Goddard’s best and brightest anymore, then, so I suppose it’d be okay if I killed this one.” He jerked the arm that he had wrapped around Alana and shoved the gun harder against her temple. Her eyes were panicked, but Daniel could tell her brain was running at about a billion calculations per second. He swallowed thickly and hoped the man couldn’t see his uncertainty.

”You know, she’s still in her trial period actually, so if she died it would just mean she wasn’t cut out for the job,” Daniel said, trying his best to sound nonchalant even though his heart was trying its best to break out of his chest. “I’m sure Mr. Cutter would understand.” Daniel saw Alana’s eyes dart to the wall beside them, and then draw in a deep breath.

”Well,” Sacco said. “In that case, I guess I’ll go ahead and-” without warning, Alana ground her feet downwards and pushed Sacco back just a few inches. He grunted, a foot coming back to steady himself and landing itself right on top of a trip wire. Alana threw herself forwards just as a barrage of bullets found their way out of a hole in the wall and into Sacco’s head.

Alana landed on her knees, breathing heavily with her long hair hanging in front of her face. Daniel tucked his gun back into its holster and took a step towards her, offering a hand which she gladly took and hoisted her to her feet. Kepler strode down the stairs leisurely, surveying the scene in front of him and then giving Alana a sharp nod.

”Good work Maxwell. Is the AI ready to go?” She didn’t say anything, just nodded and tried to catch her breath. “Jacobi, pack it up and let’s get out of here.”

”Right.” Kepler strode out of the house and back towards the car, leaving the two of them by themselves. Jacobi approached the brick-TV-sized hunk of machinery that was the AI’s central processor and hoisted it up into his arms with a grunt.

”Well,” he said to Alana. “I guess we know that from now on, if you ever find yourself on the other end of a gun, you can handle yourself.” Alana looked back at him, her eyes still a bit wide.

”Yeah,” she said, with a disbelieving laugh. “I guess so.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I realize this is pretty similar to the last fic I did, but what can you do? Hit me up on my tumblr, [@thedominoswizard](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thedominoswizard).


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